Mind Walking - A journal of discovery

Living, not merely surviving life. This is a collection of thoughts and histories of living with and recovering from mental health problems. It is a journey that is forever continuing.
From its inception it's provided a voice for experiences and is a reminder of how we resolve emotional dilemmas. Its intent is to encourage sufferers not to feel they are alone or to be ashamed. It is to educate the interested, challenge the ignorant and provide comfort along the way, if possible.

Sunday, 1 February 2015

The picture above is of some seeds from a plant we call honesty here in the UK. It strikes us all right now in these troubling times that among our top priorities as human beings is honesty. We find it most with those who know us best so, after much discussion and debate we, the Mindwalking team, have decided to go on holiday to spend more time socialising with loved ones that are known and trusted. Those of us that are most isolated are being supported and encouraged to stick close and follow the advice of their medical teams while always having at least one buddy to chat to. We always check that everyone has.

Our truest friends are the ones who will tell us when we are too ill not to seek help. They argue with us, they drag us to the doctor when we least want to go and tell our doctors things behind our backs when we don't talk to them ourselves... they save our lives. Even doctors themselves don't much like it when their colleagues do the same when they are ill! Our worst enemies are those who have not properly listened to what is really troubling us and usually that includes the biggest of enemies of all... ourselves. When we do not admit to our own faults and failings we can never hope to get well again regardless of whether is a lapse in taking the medications prescribed for a physical illness or a behaviour that is getting in the way of becoming. It makes no difference whatever the illness happens to be. Our behaviours have to adapt with our improving or declining health.

It can be an extremely long process recovering from mental illness. It is never helped by inaccurate information from non-medically trained people but it can be aided by phrases such as 'Thinking of you', 'Rooting for you', and the usual words of 'please', 'thank-you' and 'sorry'. In short the more relaxed and normal you can keep life for anyone who is ill, without over doing things with fuss and pampering and assumptions the more steady and assured their journey to a full recovery gets. Nothing ever should be done to excess and those that fall into that pit often have a long hard climb to any form of what we call freedom. Conversely, those who do too little can have an equally hard battle to engage with the world around them so that they can reach their full potential too.

Little and often is the only truly safe way to do any human activity so that in a sense less effort will always result in richer rewards in the long run even though, paradoxically more effort is always required to achieve your aims. ambitions, dreams and your ultimate goal of health and true happiness.

"Inner peace is as much a creation of your making as it is an understanding of the magical world around us."

To aid you further on your journey to new and peaceful pastures where joys are plentiful and healthy we strongly recommend trying some 'mindfulness' techniques. In essence all they do is help us to relax and be calm. They enable us to connect with our true spirit which as human beings is to live with as little pain and suffering as we can. For many it is how they connect with their own 'soul' or reason for being part of our species. There is an inner deep rooted calm and peace that lies within each of us while we live and go about our daily tasks. Everyone can connect with it, but only the truly intelligent and wise among us make the effort to do so as part of their regular routine. Not everyone who takes up mindfulness has a belief in God, many do not but what it provides is a spirit of what life is and should always be about in the most beautiful, magical and reassuring way. As you are in charge of what switch off techniques you use, you tailor things to fit perfectly.

It is why we recommend you take time out to explore that more than anything else while we take a holiday to do the same. Maybe we'll meet up in those pastures new, plentiful and pleasant. Human imagination is so powerful that we can do any second of any day, anywhere in the world. We hope to see more of you in our healthy and happy dreams which are always peaceful.

GLOBAL PETITION

Some countries in the world have no mental health care services... No one chooses to get ill and no one is immune to mental illness s it can depend on what life throws at you. Please sign and you can hide your name if you want to.

Rules for this site

We will not enter into counselling people on this site. We've included links for sources of help instead. Nor will we ever mention by name anyone encountered in the postings written. We do not have their permission to do so and we're conscious that even if we did, people for reasons of their own may be unable to comment for themselves. We will try to answer any questions asked if appropriate, but make no promises or guarantees on that as it is of paramount importance to us to safeguard all who contribute to this site and those they love and cherish.

The media is well advised to only quote from this site.

QUALIFICATION

As human beings we all have the Right of Free Speech. To criticisms that we are not qualified to comment on Mental Health issues, we would say it's the equivalent of telling a Frenchman he's not allowed to teach French as he doesn't have a teaching qualification. However, to be strictly accurate this blog site has always been written by many both good and bad; and from it's earliest days has been guided by many fully qualified professionals in mental health.

Since starting we are now joined by those professionals who help write the articles above.

COPYRIGHT

The content of this blog is subject to the usual Intellectual Copyright laws. Use of any material on this site should always be credited to its authors and originators.